1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to sweetness synergy achieved by combining Polydextrose and a chlorodeoxysugar. More particularly, this invention pertains to a synergistic sweetening effect found between the combination of Polydextrose and chlorodeoxysugar derivatives such as chlorodeoxysucrose and chlorodeoxygalactosucrose derivatives. The synergistic sweetening compositions may be utilized in a wide variety of ingestible compositions. This invention also pertains to methods for preparing these synergistic sweetening compositions and the ingestible compositions in which they may be employed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Polydextrose is a water-soluble, low-calorie, non-cariogenic bulking agent which contributes the bulk and texture normally associated with sugars in many food products. Polydextrose is a randomly bonded highly branched glucose polymer prepared by polymerizing glucose or maltose, or both, by anhydrous melt polymerization techniques using non-volatile, edible, organic polycarboxylic acids and polyols as catalysts, crosslinking agents or polymerization activators. Polydextrose has a number average molecular weight between about 1,500 and 18,000 and contains (a) from about 0.5 to about 5 mole percent of a polycarboxylic acid ester group wherein the acid is selected from the group consisting of citric, fumaric, tartaric, succinic, adipic, itaconic, and malic acids, and (b) from about 5% to about 20% by weight of an edible polyol selected from the group consisting of sorbitol, glycerol, erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, and galactitol, which is chemically bonded to the acid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,766,165 and 3,876,794, issued to Rennhard, disclose procedures for preparing Polydextrose. Polydextrose is commercially available from Pfizer Chemical Company.
Polydextrose is a low-calorie sugar substitute (containing about 1 calorie per gram) which has many of the technological properties of sugar without the sweetness. This non-sweet bulking agent is especially useful when used in combination with high intensity sweeteners to provide low-calorie food products having the desirable texture of conventional sugar-containing food products without the calories associated with those products.
Polydextrose is commercially available in three forms: Polydextrose A, an amorphous, slightly acidic (pH of 2.5-3.5) fusible powder; Polydextrose N, a potassium hydroxide partially neutralized (pH of 5-6) light-colored 70% aqueous solution of Polydextrose A; and Polydextrose K, a potassium bicarbonate partially neutralized (pH of 5-6) powder form of Polydextrose A.
All of these Polydextrose products contain quantities of unreacted monomers, such as glucose, sorbitol, as well as citric acid, 1,6-anhydroglucose (levoglucosan) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. For example, the amount of citric acid (or citric acid salts) present in Polydextrose A is about 0.9%, by weight.
Polydextrose has recently become available in a fourth form: Improved Polydextrose, a form of Polydextrose A which is substantially free of certain low molecular weight organic acids (pH of 3-4). In general, the acids are present in the bulking agent in an amount of less than about 0.3%, by weight. Removal of these low molecular weight acids helps to eliminate the off-taste associated with Polydextrose.
Polydextrose Research Product Bulletin, Pfizer, Central Research, Groton, Connecticut (1981), p. 11, discloses that a chewing gum composition can be prepared by micronizing a mixture of Polydextrose A, sodium bicarbonate, sorbitol and an intense sweetener, adding the milled mixture to a melted gum base mixture, and then adding peppermint oil and glycerin to the mixture in portions.
Because Polydextrose is not sweet, sweetening agents, such as intense sweetening agents, must be used with Polydextrose to obtain a good tasting edible product. Intense sweetening agents (sweetener) are natural or synthetic compounds which have a greater sweetening intensity, and usually a lower caloric value, than that of sugar (sucrose). Because intense sweeteners have greater sweetening properties than sugar, smaller amounts of the sweeteners provide sweetening intensity equivalent to larger amounts of sugar. Intense sweeteners are well known in the art and are widely used as substitutes for sugar in many low calorie and/or noncariogenic compositions.
Intense sweeteners have a wide range of chemically distinct structures and hence possess varying properties. These intense sweetener compounds include water-soluble artificial sweeteners such as 1, 2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one 1, 1-dioxide (saccharin and its salts), cyclohexylsulfamic acid (cyclamate and its salts), and the potassium salt of 6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazin-4(3H)-one-2,2-dioxide (Acesulfame-K, a commercially available product from Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Somerville, N.J.), proteins such as thaumatin (Talin, a commercially available product of Tate & Lyle Products, Reading, United Kingdom), chlorodeoxysugar derivatives (such as Sucralose, a commercially available product of McNeil Specialty Products Company, Skillman, N.J.), and dipeptides such as N-L-alpha-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester (Aspartame, a commercially available product of the Nutrasweet Company, Deerfield, Ill.) and L-alpha-aspartyl-D-alanine N-(2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-3-thietanyl)amide (Alitame, a commercially available product of Pfizer, New York, N.Y.), and dihydrochalcones. Each of these sweetening agents has a distinct sweetening intensity compared to sucrose and this sweetening intensity is well documented. For example, the following sweetening agents have the sweetening intensities set out below.
______________________________________ Sweetness Intensities of Various Sweetening Agents SWEETNESS COMPOUND INTENSITY* ______________________________________ 1, 2-Benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one 1, 1-dioxide 300.times. (Saccharin and its salts) Cyclohexylsulfamic acid 30.times. (Cyclamate and its salts) N-L-alpha-Aspartyl-L-phenylalanine 180.times.- 1-methyl ester (Aspartame) 200.times. Potassium salt of 6-methyl- 160.times. 1,2,3-oxathiazin-4(3H)-one- 200.times. 2,2-dioxide (Acesulfame-K) 4,1',6'-Trichloro-4,1',6'-trideoxy- 600.times. galactosucrose (Sucralose) L-alpha-Aspartyl-N-(2,2,4,4- 2000.times. tetramethyl-3-thietanyl)-D- alaninamide hydrate (Alitame) ______________________________________ *Compared to sucrose.
Because each intense sweetening agent is chemically distinct, each sweetener presents a different challenge with respect to the actual use of such sweetener in ingestible compositions. For example, some intense sweeteners present stability problems, such as Aspartame, which exhibits instability in the presence of aldehydes, ketones, moisture, and the like. Other intense sweeteners have an associated bitter taste or off-note such as Saccharin (a commercially available product of PMC Specialty Group Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio), stevioside, Acesulfame-K, glycyrrhizic, dipotassium glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizic acid ammonium salt, and thaumatin (Talin).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,963, issued to Klose et al. and assigned to General Foods Corporation, discloses a low-calorie, sugar-free chewing gum composition wherein a flavoring agent is added to a mixture of softened gum base and spray-dried Polydextrose N bulking agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,991, issued to Cherukuri et al. and assigned to Warner-Lambert Company, discloses a reduced-calorie chewing gum composition wherein a flavoring agent is added to a mixture of a high percentage of a non-styrene-butadiene copolymer/polyvinyl acetate elastomer chewing gum base and a small percentage of a polysaccharide selected from the group consisting of Polydextrose, polymaltose, modified Polydextrose, and mixtures thereof.
U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 043,793 and 193,961, both of which are assigned to Warner-Lambert Company, disclose methods for purifying Polydextrose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,233, issued to Torres, discloses methods for purifying Polydextrose and the preparation of a tabletop sweetener which comprises Alitame and Polydextrose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,519, issued to Dartey et al. and assigned to Nabisco Brands, discloses a cookie which comprises from about 5% to about 20% Polydextrose. Polydextrose is added to replace shortening or fat and sugar to avoid lumpiness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,196, issued to Zeller, discloses a low calorie dairy product which contains from 5% to 30% sugars consisting of a mixture of 10% to 90% Polydextrose and 90% to 10% fructose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,440, issued to Hough et al. and assigned to Tate and Lyle plc, discloses sweetening agents which comprise chlorodeoxysugar derivatives.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,170, issued to Beytes et al. and assigned to Tate and Lyle plc, discloses synergistic sweetening compositions which comprise a mixture of a chlorodeoxysugar and another sweetening agent which has an associated bitter taste. The chlorodeoxysugars are selected from the group consisting of chlorodeoxysucroses and chlorodeoxygalactosucroses. The bitter tasting sweetening agent is selected from the group consisting of Saccharin, stevioside and Acesulfame-K.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 230,282, filed Aug. 9, 1988, to Cherukuri et al. and assigned to Warner-Lambert Company, discloses synergistic sweetening compositions which comprise Sucralose and Aspartame and Sucralose and Alitame. In general, the synergistic sweetening compositions comprise Sucralose and Aspartame, or Sucralose and Alitame, in a ratio by weight from about 65:35 to about 91.7:8.3, respectively.
U.S. patent application Ser. No 264,248, filed Oct. 28, 1988, to Cherukuri et al. and assigned to Warner-Lambert Company, discloses synergistic sweetening compositions which comprise Sucralose and Maltitol.
PCT patent application serial no. WO 89/03182A, priority date Oct. 6, 1987, to Tate & Lyle plc, discloses synergistic sweetening compositions which comprise Sucralose and a saccharide bulk sweetening agent selected from the group consisting of fructose, glucose, maltose, xylitol, mannitol, and sorbitol.
European Patent Application serial no. 267,809A2 discloses synergistic sweetening compositions which comprise Sucralose and maltodextrin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,528, issued to Stroz et al. and assigned to Nabisco Brands, Inc., discloses a codried composition consisting essentially of about 99.9% to 90% saccharin and about 0.1% to about 10% of a halodeoxysugar, by weight.
PCT patent application serial no. WO 89/08672A, priority date May 15, 1987, to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, discloses a chewing gum composition having controlled sweetness wherein the gum contains an effective amount of Sucralose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,884, issued to Cherukuri et al. and assigned to Warner-Lambert Company, discloses reduced calorie chewing gums wherein soft polyvinyl acetate containing gum bases having an enhanced hydrophilic nature are employed in amounts of greater than about 50% in combination with up to about 0.60% of an intense sweetening agent and up to about 40% of a bulk sweetening agent. The gum bases are employed in major quantities to reduce the caloric content of the gums.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,223, issued to Perfetti et al. and assigned to Gum Base Co., SPA, discloses a no-calorie chewing gum composition which comprises from 92% to 99% of a gum base, up to 4% of glycerol, and up to 3% of a flavoring agent. The gum base comprises from 8% to 15% of an elastomer, from 10% to 30% of a hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated animal or vegetable oil, from 10% to 39% of an inert mineral filler, from 8% to 25% of polyvinyl acetate, from 4% to 9% of fatty acid glycerides, from 15% to 25% of resins, from 2% to 6% of natural gum, from 4% to 12% of wax and up to 0.05% of antioxidants.
Thus, a variety of combinations of sweetening agents and bulking agents are known which have specific sweetness intensities compared to sucrose. There is still a need, however, for sweetened bulking agents such as Polydextrose which have enhanced sweetening intensities for use in ingestible compositions. Such enhanced or synergistic sweetening compositions would permit an ingestible composition to contain a reduced total amount of sweetening composition, and would thereby reduce costs, stability problems, taste problems, and the like. The present invention provides such synergistic sweetening compositions and the sweetened ingestible compositions and chewing gum products in which the synergistic sweetening compositions may be used.